Brother Bear, Bear Brother
by UmiyyadKhan
Summary: Just two one-shots featuring Denahi and Koda's POVs at the events of Brother Bear. (Warning: Due to my faint memory about the first movie, may contain slightly different details than the original movie) Epilogue added in May 30, 2018.
1. Part I: Denahi

When Denahi first met Kenai at the age of 4, he thought he was the ugliest baby in the world.

Growing up, Denahi always saw his big brother, Sitka, who preceded him by three winters, as a hero figure. So he was at first proud to be someone's big brother, when he learned that their mom was pregnant, the excitement soon evaporated as soon as he took his first look on Kenai. It didn't help when his little brother cried for whatever he wanted in the night, it certainly didn't help when he and Sitka were always left behind babysitting Kenai, when the adults were out hunting or collecting fruits, either.

Then, a mere year after Kenai was born, he found the men came back empty handed without their father. Their mother didn't take the accident well, and soon joined her husband when a plague hit the tribe that winter. The plague hit them hard, the tribe lost so many strong youngs and experience olds, but it was also the hardest winter for the three newly orphaned children. With early matured Sitka took on the role as both their father and mother, and the help from other survivors in the tribe, the three brothers stood tall, and grew into strong teenagers in the next fifteen winters.

Losing parents at young age, Kenai never knew their parents like his older brothers. Every time he asked or cried for daddy or mommy when he was young, it always brought back bittersweet memories in his older siblings' mind. Seeing Sitka's mournful and defeated face also enraged Denahi, who snapped and stormed out their tent every time his little brother whined. Sitka would scowled him for upset Kenai after that, and he did know that it was not his younger sibling's fault, Denahi just couldn't help letting out his frustration on Kenai.

Sitka was the first to receive Eagle of Guidance as his totem, followed by Denahi, whose totem was Wolf of Wisdom, three winters later. When it was finally Kenai's turn to receive his totem, he just can wait for the ceremony to begin. At this point, Kenai had long stopped asking about their parents, and Denahi had learned to control his anger better, and had adapted a more sarcastic and teasing tone, much to Sitka's disappointment. When Kenai received Bear of Love, Denahi was surprised he didn't die from laughing so hard, for ironically, bears were hardly Kenai's favorite animals.

Then they found out that, in his excitement, Kenai didn't wrap up and hide the fish as well as he should be, and was stolen by a passing bear. While Sitka was dealing with the angry villagers, Denahi snapped at his little brother, resulted in Kenai angrily chasing after the bear. Finding out what Denahi had done, Sitka made both of them following their youngest brother. They did find the bear, and she was not happy to find so many hunters near her and her cub, so she stroke back. To save his little brothers, Sitka made both the mother bear and himself falling down from the top of the mountain, and unfortunately, costed his life in the process.

On the funeral, Denahi knew the lost of Sitka hit Kenai as hard as himself, and it was unfair to blame him for Sitka's death, he felt himself snapped at his little brother like winters ago, when Kenai first brought up their parents, only this time there was no Sitka to look after their youngest sibling. Realizing his mistake and Kenai's missing, Denahi immediately retrieved his spear and started to track his brother down, and it led him to the mountain where they first confronted the mother bear. When he arrived the mountain, he barely noticed that the top was engulfed by aurora. When he finally reached the top, Kenai was nowhere to seen, only a grizzly bear stood beside his spear.

When his parents were taken from him, he still got Sitka and Kenai. Now both of them were taken away as well, Denahi suddenly found himself truly alone in the world. They said you started to treasure something when you finally lost it, not only did Denahi lost his big brother he used to admire, but also his little brother he cared deeply, in the fateful day. Packing his weapons and clothes, ignoring Tanana's warning words, which he failed to take notice about, Denahi started his journey of revenge. Though he was not sure if he could ever find the bear in question, he sworn he would slayed any bear he ever came cross, in the name of Kenai.

Denahi met his first target in a forest. Strangely, the bear seemed like it wanted to talk to him. Nevertheless, Denahi attacked, only the bear escaped, with a cub. He later met the two at a lava field, but they escaped again when Denahi fell down from the wood, while attempted to cross a river and chase after the bears. The strange bear reached out its paw, like it wanted to pull him up before Denahi fell into the fall, though. Luckily he's thick coat prevented him from hurting too bad from the fall. Frustrated by his constant failure, Denahi decided to go to the mountain where Sitka died for his guidance.

The weather at the mountain was bad, and Denahi was glad that he did bring his winter coat with him. When he was preparing his meal, an bald eagle reminding him Sitka landed on a rock nearby. Taking it as Sitka's sign, Denahi followed the eagle with spear in his hand, and found the strange bear wandering around the top of the mountain, without the cub. He immediately started to attacked it, when he was almost success, the cub came out from nowhere and took his weapon away. Chasing after the cub, Denahi eventually got his spear back, only to find the older bear lunged for him. Pointing his weapon toward it, Denahi almost missed all the things that happened next.

At first Denahi closed his eyes preparing for the impact, when it didn't come as he expected, he slowly opened his eyes, and found himself surrounded by aurora, while the bear was lifted up by the eagle he saw earlier. Denahi watched in total shock as the bear transforming into a very naked Kenai, and dropped his spear in horror as he suddenly realized what he almost did. As the brothers reunited, the eagle turned into Sitka's spirit and hugged them both. Then, they heard the cub yelped in fear, while hiding itself behind a rock, when Kenai approached it and seemly talked to it, it jumped into Kenai's arms and licked his face happily, however.

Kenai later revealed that the mother bear who stole their fish, was in fact mother of the cub, whose name Denahi learned was Koda. As Kenai was torn between staying bear for the cub, or staying human for his brother, Denahi realized maybe Koda needed his little brother more than himself, so he suggested Kenai stayed bear, as 'he looked better in bear form'. Eventually the human and bears parted away, after promising to each other they would met during the salmon season every year in the future. Denahi may still looked alone in the outside, but he now knew his little brother was safe and live in somewhere in the forest happily in heart.

To Denahi, no matter which form, human or bear, Kenai took, he was always his most ugly, annoyed, yet loved little brother.


	2. Part II: Koda

When Koda first encountered Kenai on his way to his first salmon run, the older bear was hung upside down by a human hunter's trap.

As the only survived cub in the litter, it was always Koda and his mother. When they were travelling, sometimes Koda would catch a new scent that smelt like himself and his mother, before his mother made themselves changed direction to avoid the bear. According to Koda's mother, it was the scent of his older siblings. Koda used to wonder what his life would be had the other cubs survived, or that he was introduced to his older brothers and sisters, he secretly hoped he would met them at the salmon run.

During their trip to the gathering place, Koda wandered away and found a human tribe nearby, when his mother was napping. Ever since his mother first mentioned humans, Koda got the impression that humans were cruel and merciless monsters from his worst nightmares, but today his curiosity had beat his fear. Koda watched as one of the humans hung something on the branch, before they all ran away, the branch broke and the thing fell off not long after, however. Koda waited longer in case the humans reappeared, before he went to investigate and the smell of salmons hit his nose.

Koda was digging in the salmons when his mother found him. The mother bear quickly grabbed her cub and ran to their hiding place, before the humans found them. Worried and angered by her cub's little adventure, the mother bear was about to scold Koda, before she caught the scent of human hunters. Strictly ordered her cub not wandering again, the mother bear left to scare off the hunters, it was the last time Koda saw his mother. Frightened by his mother's serious tone and the possibility of killed by the hunters, Koda remained in their den sleepless all night.

Koda didn't know when he fell into sleep, nevertheless he woke up the next morning without his mother by his side. He remained hidden during that day and night. When finally in the third day he was hungry, and still no signs of his mother, Koda left the den to search for his mother. Remembering that his mother once told him, in the case that he was lost, and couldn't find a way back to her, she would meet him at the gathering place, Koda started his journey alone to his first salmon run. It was then he heard a surprised yell near their hiding place.

It didn't take Koda long to find Kenai, who was still hung upside down by a trap. For their first introduction, Koda thought Kenai was the dumbest bear he had ever met, not that he had met other bears besides his mother and himself, but the point was who got stuck by the simplest human trap, one Koda was told about during his first class of _Human 101_? Besides, Kenai was also the meanest bear, for he refused to keep his promise and take Koda to the salmon run, once Koda freed him. Kenai eventually agreed to escort Koda after the younger bear mentioned 'the mountain', though they were soon interrupted by a human hunter.

To Koda's surprise and horror, instead of running away with him, Kenai remained at the place and even tried to talk with the hunter! The human of course ignored the older bear's words, before it snarled and attacked him, only then did Kenai fled. The two bears finally lost the hunter and reached the glacier safely. The next day they started their journey to the gathering place, during their journey, Koda also found Kenai to be the most boring bear, for the older bear refused to play with him every time he was bored, and they only stopped at night or asking other animals for direction.

At the half of their journey they met Rutt and Tuke, the two moose friends who constantly bickering with each other. Learning that the hunter was still hot on their tails, when they thought they had already lost it, Kenai suggested they 'took the mammoths'. Koda quickly found this idea both crazy and funny at the same time, as he tried his best to keep his balance on the back of mammoth. That night, Kenai finally allowed Koda to sleep with him, or at least the older bear didn't push Koda away every time the cub got near.

At the day before they reached the gathering place, they encountered the hunter again. Kenai asked Koda to run away to the safe place, in a way that strangely reminded him his mother's last words to him, and the cub watched in horror as the human approaching Kenai menacingly, luckily a spring erupted and separated the bear and the human. They them reached a waterfall, and easily crossed it with a trunk as bridge. When the human tried to cross the waterfall, the trunk broke and it fell, before Kenai lunged forward to the hunter, like he was trying to save it from falling. Koda didn't say a word to Kenai when they resumed their journey.

Soon after they arrived an unoccupied cave, and decided to use it as their hiding place that night. Koda soon found human painting in the cave, and felt extremely uncomfortable about it, as it was depicting several human hunters hunting a giant grizzly bear, before Kenai found him. Koda expressed his fear about human, and confessed he was in fact worrying that the missing of his mother might had something to do with the hunter, who was pursuing them, to Kenai, who was silently hugging and comforting the cub.

Eventually they reached the gathering place the next day. When the bears gathered and shared their story about the past year, Koda explained in detail how he was separated from his mother, and how he found Kenai, who was at first a jerk, before becoming a true big brother he had always wished he could have in the end. When Koda finished his story, Kenai was nowhere to find, though. Confused by the situation, Koda excused himself and went searching for his big brother, and found Kenai resting under a tree by a cliff, before he finally learned about his mother's fate, also the true nature of Kenai.

The fact that Kenai was one of the hunters his mother smelt before leaving him, and was the one who killed his mother, hit the cub hard. Ignoring Kenai calling, Koda only wanted to run away from the 'murderer'. Hiding in the branches, Koda watched as the desperate Kenai apologizing for his wrong doing, before the older bear walking away, believing the cub would never forgive him. In truth, Koda just didn't know what to think about his big brother yet. Koda wanted to paint Kenai as the heartless monster from his most horrible nightmare, but his previous journey with the older bear told him another story.

It was then Rutt and Tuke appeared in front of Koda. Apparently Tuke (or was it Rutt? For that Koda just couldn't tell who was who) had done something to upset the other moose, and they were arguing. However just like they always did, the two moose reconciled to each other, as soon as they started to bicker, right in front of the cub, and the hilarious scene amused Koda. Now in a lighter mood, Koda decided he at least owed Kenai a chance to explain, as the older bear was nowhere near the brute human hunter, but a caring bear brother to him.

The situation at the mountain top was happening too quick for Koda to fully understand it, for one minute Kenai was a bear, almost killed by the hunter, before he was transformed into a young human by a spirit taking the form of bald eagle. At first frightened, Koda hid himself behind a rock, before human Kenai knelt down and hugged the cub. Then Kenai spoke to the other human, who Koda learned was Kenai's older brother, Denahi, in their language, while Koda was granted by the surprise visit of his mother's spirit.

After saying his final goodbye to his mother, Koda was surprised to find Kenai back to his bear form. Koda's big brother later told him that he chose to remain bear to take care of the cub, as a making up for taking away his mother. Koda also found out from Kenai that they would meet Denahi once a year during the salmon run season. At first unsure what to think about his big brother's human brother, Koda soon found Denahi funnier than his younger sibling, and started ganging up teasing Kenai, despite the language barrier, before the bears and the human parted away for their now different life.

To Koda, although once a human, Kenai would always be his dumpiest, most boring, yet amazing brother bear.


	3. Epilogue: Kenai

If you asked Kenai many summers ago, that which animal he liked most, the Inuit boy would tell you it was definitely not bear, the very form he had been taking since that fateful summer.

Back then, Kenai was just a young boy seeking revenge for the death of his brother from, ironically, the spirit animal of his, the Bear of Love. In the process, he not only killed the bear he blamed for Sitka's death, but orphaned the mother bear's cub, Koda, who he now saw as little brother of his. At the night he chose to stay in the form of bear for the cub, the two of them had talked heart to heart. It turned out that though Koda was still hurt by the fact that, Kenai the human was the hunter who took his mother's life, he was willing to forgive him, for Kenai the bear had become the big brother he never had, and was secretly wishing for.

Maybe it was the guilt, or the fact that the cub had already grown on him, Kenai vowed to be the best big brother in the world, or maybe only second to his own brother, for Koda. It soon turned out to be a difficult task though. Since Koda was still a cub, and Kenai was a human who was recently turned into a bear, neither of them processed the skill for surviving, it didn't help that Koda had never paid attention to his mother's lesson, either. Fortunately, they learned fast from observing other bears' move during the salmon run, also Denahi visited often and brought the bears some supplies that summer, Kenai's human brother never left without teasing and reminding him how bad he was at hiding his own track.

After the first winter, Kenai soon found Koda as big as him after recovering from hibernation. Although as human Kenai had already saw sixteen winters came and went, while it was only the second winter Koda had encountered, the two young bears now looked like they were born in the same litter. During the summer, they traveled to the gathering place for salmon run that year, also met Denahi at the top of the mountain. The Inuit hunter almost not able to recognize his brother, if not for the fact that Kenai still preserved some human traits in his bear form, like rolling eyes when his human brother was complaining. Koda immediately found it hilarious, and tried rolling his eyes after that, but failed miserably.

Rolling eyes was not the only human traits Kenai the bear processed, it seemed that while he was now a bear, he still aged like a human. When it was time for Koda to find mate, Kenai looked like his smaller companion that at least one or two years younger than him. Kenai's brothers, both human and bear, didn't miss this chance to tease him. Unlike humans, grizzly bears rarely mated for life, and most father bears never knew their youth, since mother bears were always fiercely protecting their cubs. While Koda didn't seem bothered when they were shooed away by his first mate, after she had given birth to his cubs, Kenai found it a little hard to accept, along with other differences between humans and bears.

Though now Kenai was hardly the 'big' brother between the two, Koda still saw him as an older sibling. In fact, Kenai proved to be more skillful than Koda. Since he was once a human, Kenai took the experience as his advantage in predicting hunters' move, also avoiding them all as much as possible. Moreover, though now with a pair of bear paws, Kenai's fish traps were not as perfect as he could make with human hands, it still worked. Koda laughed at how ugly and seemly useless when Kenai was setting the traps, but was quiet when Kenai caught twice amounts of fish than him at the end of the day. Once Kenai taught Koda the trick, the brother bears spent most of their in traveling and fooling around, than hunting as other bears.

Kenai eventually met the love of his life in Nita, a young female bear during their time of traveling. At first Nita was frightened by the fact that Kenai was once a hunter, for she had encountered a young hunter once, and it was not a very pleased experience. It took lots of Kenai's effort, sometimes pleading, and Koda's encouraging, before Nita calmed down and reconciled with Kenai. Nita later realized that though now a bear, Kenai still thought like a human, and agreed to be Kenai's mate for life. She was amused when Kenai gave her a bracelet, made by paws, when asking her to marry him in human fashion. The two married that summer, with Denahi and Koda's witness.

The next year the trio were joined by two cubs born by Nita, Kenai named them Sitka and Atka, after his deceased brother and father. Growing up, the boys were told about the humans, how the hunters were dangerous with spears, and should avoid them as much as possible, but the adult bears made sure to remind them not all the humans were bad, in fact, Sitka and Atka knew full well about their father's true identity, for they had learned the story from Koda, and was even introduced to Denahi. Though still can't fully understand the bears, Denahi and Kenai still found a way to communicate with each other, by signing and drawing simple characters through the time. It was how Denahi persuaded Kenai going back to the tribe, and printing his paw between his ancestors' palm print with Tanana's help, at night when they wouldn't be seen.

Well-fed by Kenai's fish-catching skill, their family lived longer than most of other bears. Nita passed away after married for over twenty years, while Koda soon followed at the age of thirty. No longer accompanied by his little brother and beloved mate, Kenai decided it was time to leave his life as bear and made trip to the mountain top one last time, hoping to find Denahi, as his human tribe had moved a couple years ago. Kenai didn't know what he was going to do once reach the top, maybe somehow found a way to transform back to human? Not as young as he was many years ago, Kenai panted intensely when arrived at the mountain top, a bald eagle was standing proudly there, seemly waiting for his presence.

Silently, the eagle transformed into his brother's spirit, and smiled proudly at Kenai the bear, before the transformation began. Once again, Kenai was lifted by spirits while the mountain was engulfed by the aurora, and became an old adult in his forties. Apparently somehow informed by the spirits, Denahi showed up just in time and offered a coat, of course not made from bear fur, to Kenai, before he even felt cold. The brotherly reunion was interrupted by two surprised yelps, as it seemed Kenai was followed by his two sons. Realizing that in his own grief on his deceased brother and wife, he had ignored his children and left without a proper goodbye. Kenai rushed to hug both the boys while apologized to them.

To his surprise, under his overstretched arms, his sons' fur seemed to be vanishing, and before long his was hugging two naked young men. Denahi offered them each a coat, while the spirit of old Sitka just smirked at a dumbfounded Kenai. When the aurora vanished, Kenai saw his older brother left with two bear spirits, who smiled at him before disappeared. It was then Kenai turned his attention back to his brother and sons, who seemed inheriting his human aging trait, and looked like young men in their late twenty, but with more stronger-built bodies.

Since the boys remained silent, it suddenly occurred to Kenai that whether they could speak human language, as they seemed not able to understand Denahi when they met him in the past. It was Sitka Jr. first broke the silence, "uncle was right, you did look better in bear form," which was followed by Denahi and Atka's snickering. The four of them started their journey back to the tribe the next morning. As they were approaching the village, the father and sons felt a little unease that they were so close to human inhabitant, as they had spent most of their life as bear. The awkwardness soon evaporated as Denahi led them to his family, and introduced them to his wife and children. As their children were socialized, Denahi asked Kenai how he felt.

"Loved," was his answer.


End file.
